Advertisement
Published: October 24th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Lakvasi Balika Niwasa Orphanage
Gorgeous little girl I named "maddie" This why I came to Sri Lanka to offer a "Hand of Hope". I arrived in Sri Lanka on the 31st of August - it was a hard decision for me giving everying up to come over here and try and help out in some of the orphanages here. It has been quite an experience, back home I dont think any of us have much idea about how these children actually live. In the first orphanage, it was Gillian McAlister, Katie Chester, Hannah K and myself, that went to Pollonaruwa, their days were always the same, up at the same each day to prepare for school, come home at the same time and have lunch, then.......what do we do until bed time, other than do our homework and play? play with what is the question, they had two very old shabby swings and a sort of climbing frame and a concrete tunnel! but, surprisingly enough they did seem to keep themselves occupied, to a degree. The children were very grubby and most of them had nits, but none of this, or the fact that they only had one change of clothes seemed to bother them. Some of them had no parents,
or just one but that parent couldnt cope. One young lady I met, Sharnika, she was 4 when her mother died and 9 when her father died, so she'd been in the orphange for 10 years, she is a beautiful, talented young woman, she was there with her younger sister, Pushba, who was 17, but due to problems with the matron, she had Pushba sent to another orphanage miles away. So this poor girl, not only did she lose both parents but now she has been separated from her only family, her little sister. Once her sister reaches 18 in December, she will be shipped down to Colombo to work in a sewing factory, and will earn about 14 pence per hour!!! for ten hours a day - yet they still managed a smile for us. Unfortunately the matron in these particular orphanage didn't really like us attending, as she didnt appear to like to see the children having fun. It was quite obvious to us that her role as "matron" was purely a "job", she showed no emotions, no holding hands with the children, all we saw was shouting and from what the children told us, smacking them! I
felt some of the children were becoming more aggressive and hostile towards us, which made me feel rather uncomfortable. I believe it was down to how they were treated at the orphange, and it became clear they just wanted "presents" and us to go. One day it was Ruhan's 13th birthday so we threw him a little birthday party, with a cake and orange squash. This was the first time he had ever celebrated his birtday, Gill bought him a watch and a card, his little face, he really didnt know what so say. After that day we never saw him wear it!. I think seeing all the children having so much fun, the way they virtually snatched the empty cake box off us dying to get the last crumbs out of it and lick the cream, that the matron became more hostile towards us and it was then that she decided that the we, the volunteers, could attend the orphanage but were not allowed to bring anything with us, books, pencils, toys, games, nothing! All we were allowed to do was just sit and talk them, for 3 hours in the afternoon. We weren't happy with this so moved
Pollonaruwa Orphanage
One of the young girls doing her washing after her shower to another orphanage about 15 minutes away. Although it was hard having to leave the children, it seemed they were better off without us, the matron gave them a harder time when we were there. Seeing all their little faces when we left was really sad, but I hope that I managed to touch at least one heart there, and taught he or she something. We moved to an orphange called Lakvasi Balika Niwasa. It was totally different to the first one, this was more like what I expected. It was a large building which housed all the girls under one roof, as opposed to several "outbuildings" at the first one. The matron was lovely, very friendly and the children adored her. She spoke very little English but between us we managed to communicate. The biggest problem we had here was, the children had a very strict routine which they adhered to. So basically we were just being "slotted" in, at a time that was most convenient for the girls. They started there days off with prayers, washing, breakfast and then school. By the time they returned from school and had their lunch it was about 2.30, which was the
Pollonaruwa Orphanage
"Flying High" with the kites I brought out for the children to make earliest time that we were allowed to go in. We set up a classroom and let the children decide for themselves who wanted to learn English and who didnt. Our pupils ranged from aged 9 to 19, they were all so eager, polite and just loved having us there, even though time was tight. After the first week, the matron told us that due to the tight schedule the girls had, could we only come on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays n future, from 2.30 until 5.30. We accepted of course, but really, 9 hours a week was just not enough time to spend with them. I live with a local family in Pollonaruwa, which is a very remote town mile from anywhere, so there is very little to do with your time inbetween going to the orphanage. Whilst I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the orphanges, I absolutely loved playing with the kids, I'm not a teacher but did get some satisfaction out of teaching English and some basic maths to the children. I guess its so hard to imagine what it would be like coming out here, I thought I would be getting the kids up in the
Pollonaruwa Orphanage
Some of the boys doing their daily washing! morning, giving them breakfast and being a bit like a second "mum" to them, be their when they came home from school and help them with their English homework. But we are in their country and have to abide by their rules. It has been a very rewarding experience for me and I truly hope that my time here has not gone unnoticed with the children, hopefully I did manage to bring a little bit of happiness into their lives.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 19; dbt: 0.026s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
dave
non-member comment
your a star
good on you x